Solidarity, Not Sanctions

A world-wide wave of solidarity for the courageous working people of Iran has emerged, as they protest for improved living standards and expanded democratic freedoms. We extend full support to the Iranian popular movements, as they struggle for a better future, against the reactionary fundamentalist regime.

At the same time, we insist that US imperialism and its allies must never be allowed to “Iraq” Iran. This strategy has actually been underway for several years, as the US tries to ratchet up sanctions against Iran, just as it did against Iraq during the 1990s. Those sanctions softened up Iraq for the illegal war of occupation launched by George Bush and Tony Blair in 2003, on the grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed “weapons of mass destruction,” and that the Iraqi people needed to be “rescued” by foreign military intervention.

The first lie was ludicrous, and no such weapons were ever found following the imperialist occupation. The second argument essentially states that any number of civilian deaths related to the sanctions and the war – over a million so far in Iraq – is a small price to knock off a critic of US imperialism.

Now, the western media and Donald Trump are again demanding stronger sanctions and US military intervention. But only the people of Iran can liberate their own country, with the true solidarity of all friends who stand for freedom, social justice, peace and human rights. What they do not need is the involvement of a country which has brought chaos and devastation to the entire Middle East and central Asia region over the past three decades. At this historic but potentially dangerous moment, the peace movement in North America must be quite clear: yes to solidarity with the people of Iran, no to imperialist sanctions and war threats!